


this is not a very good metaphor for feelings

by opusculasedfera



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Handcuffs, M/M, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Trope Bingo Round 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-17
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-09 07:45:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1974663
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opusculasedfera/pseuds/opusculasedfera
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"We're ruining their prank," Lu says, which doesn't even make sense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this is not a very good metaphor for feelings

**Author's Note:**

> Written to fill the handcuffed/bound together square on my trope bingo card. Begun pre-Luongo trade, so that's when it's set.
> 
> Thanks to Tasha and Aria for looking this over.

“Should we be doing something?” Eddie says plaintively for the third or fourth time.

“What would be the point?” Lu replies without opening his eyes.

“Someone could get us out of this?” Eddie’s pretty sure this is a good point. There's no reason whatsoever for them to be handcuffed together, though it's hard to remember that with Lu lying all zen next to him, like Eddie's the one who's having the weird reaction to this. He settles back against the pillows, trying to mimic Lu's pose.

"Could they?" Lu intones. They really could. Firstly, someone on the team has to have the keys because no one else could have done this while they were asleep on the bus, and secondly, the equipment guys have hacksaws and stuff. 

" _Yes_ ," Eddie says, because he's already explained this at least twice, though Lu might have been asleep while he did it, and also he started stuttering again the second time around. It's really nervewracking to be on Lu's bed and they're so close like this – two arms' lengths at the absolute furthest and Eddie has never been so glad that he's tall. He takes a deep breath, and Lu nods encouragingly.

"That's the spirit. Calm your mind." 

"But _why_?" Eddie's voice betrays him again on the last consonant and he scowls.

"We're ruining their prank."

Eddie could be on board with that, because this isn't even a very funny one, especially when everyone left them on the bus. They did that to Kes last week: it's not even a new joke. He doesn't know how this counts as ruining it because they're _still handcuffed together_.

"They'll get bored if we don't throw a fit, and we can really screw with them at dinner," Lu says seriously.

"...By being untied by then?" Eddie asks hopefully. 

"Better than that." It's not very helpful.

Lu insists that they take their pregame nap, and Eddie's pretty sure he shouldn't fuck with Lu's because he's actually starting, but he doesn't know how Lu can be so peaceful with his arm outstretched to take the pressure off their linked wrists. He honestly seems to be asleep and Eddie should be, but he can't with someone else in the bed, especially not staring them in the face. He usually jerks it when he can't sleep, and he's pretty good at being quiet when he has a roommate, but they're not usually in the same _bed_ and anyway, Lu's cuffed to that hand.

He doesn't feel like he'd quite reached sleep when Lu sits up abruptly, yanking on his arm, but as Lu gently mocks him about his snoring, apparently he did.

"TV?" Lu says, waving off Eddie's apologies. "We've got a while before dinner."

Eddie didn't really have anything to do before they went to the rink anyway. Not that he could do it even if he did. 

There's no argument over channels, but they barely have a minute to appreciate their harmony before the disadvantages of reality television while handcuffed become apparent. The first time Eddie throws up his hands in frustration at the contestants' stupidity, he's stopped halfway through by the deadweight of Lu's arm. "Don't worry about it," Lu says kindly. The second time, Lu's equal outrage is going in the opposite direction and it's Eddie's turn to have his arm dragged off, and Lu's to apologize.

Eddie tries to sit still after that, but it's hard, and he's never been any good at it, and the careful distance they're keeping between them only seems to make every twitch more noticeable, every shift tugging them gently together. Lu still seems unperturbable, but no one can be that unaware of how fucking annoying this situation is. Eddie can't even reach for the remote without Lu slumping sideways into his space.

"So, who's your pick?" Lu says cheerfully. Eddie stares at him blankly. He gestures at the tv. "Your pick. To win. C'mon, I know you've got one."

"How are you so calm?" Eddie says instead. "This is very weird, you know."

"But funny." Lu shrugs. "Waiting means we can turn it back on them. Wheels within wheels." He taps the side of his nose, bafflingly, and goes to pat Eddie's shoulder, laughing when it turns Eddie's arm back on himself. "See: funny," he says when Eddie looks at him. 

Eddie doesn't say anything: he's too busy thinking about Lu touching his shoulder. This is a stupid thing to think about. Lu touches people all the time, he's not shy about it. So does Eddie, usually. Not Lu, because it makes him blush too hard and he overthinks things and then Lu's gone, but people, in general.

Hanging out and watching tv is normal, he reminds himself. Even with your crush. Honestly, Lu's invited him up a couple times once he stopped teasing Eddie about wanting to be friends. He does usually spend the afternoon scrunched onto the couch while Lu sprawls appealingly on the bed, but it's not really like he expected Lu to share.

He shouldn’t be this shy about it, sitting on Lu’s bed should be exactly what he wants, but it’s a lot easier to flirt dramatically when you can run away afterward. He resolves not to be weird and glances up into Lu's curious gaze. Lu blinks when their eyes meet, and Eddie swallows. "You want to change the channel?" Lu asks. "I don't mind either way. You seem bored."

"Whatever you want," Eddie says, and doesn't even swallow his tongue when he says it.

"Cool," Lu says calmly. If only. He seems unimpressed by the offerings when he flips through the channels, ultimately landing them back where they started with a shrug that tugs Eddie temptingly in his direction. Eddie resists though. Eventually.

He turns his attention back to the tv. It’s a pretty successful distraction, if an infuriating one, given how close they end up migrating for ease of pointed gestures. Lu’s last is more emphatic than ever, practically dragging Eddie into his lap, or at least so their shoulders touch, Eddie slumping against Lu’s side. Lu gives him his arm back, patting his knee as he does it. He sighs, half a laugh in it, "Well, if we're going to be all over each other anyway," and waggles his eyebrows, starting to close the gap between them the remaining couple of inches.

Lu's not really moving all that fast, but Eddie squeaks and falls sideways anyway, dragging Lu with him. He shoves himself up on an elbow as Lu begins to retreat politely to the extent their attachment will allow, and says, "Hang on, wait-" He doesn't know how Lu can look so calm, so politely interested in what he has to say, when they're this close. He can't actually smell him, but he feels like he should be able to; he can definitely feel his warmth there, not quite touching Eddie's side. He can imagine what it would be like if they were closer without any effort at all. Shit.

He may be staring because Lu says cautiously "We can go back to the tv?" 

“Nope,” Eddie says firmly, because he does, actually, know what he wants, even if he didn’t entirely expect to get it. 

Lu’s got a pretty good smile.

It's a relief that the handcuffs can actually disrupt Lu's poise under _some_ circumstances. Not a lot: he can still cover Eddie with astonishingly fluidity, putting them nose to nose quick enough to make Eddie start again, but he looks down as his attempts to balance himself are thwarted by the cuff, Eddie's wrist under his hand and unsteadying them both, his nose wrinkling ruefully.

His mouth twists, but he says, "We can work with this," and leans down to actually kiss Eddie. 

Eddie's brain feels like it makes a small dying noise and goes quiet. He's been so keyed up all afternoon, so aware of the tiny space between him and Lu as they move in each other's orbit, in and out of phase as they adjust to the implacability of the cuff. He doesn't have to try anymore, Lu's weight on his chest a certain fact, and his warmth burning itself directly into Eddie's skin where their hands and lips touch.

Lu raises himself up on his elbows to look the two of them up and down, thoughtful, and then laughing when Eddie tries to drag him back and gets them tangled. “I think like this,” he says, rocking back onto his knees between Eddie’s legs, his fingers still twisted with Eddie’s, their joined hands resting on Eddie’s hip. “Better shirtless, maybe, but this works.” 

Eddie has never been so glad to be wearing sweats as now; two of them trying to shove them down with one hand each and a ridiculous lack of coordination for two professional athletes. Lu’s in there like a shot the second they’re down around his thighs, and Eddie’s trapped again, his one hand held firm in Lu’s grasp, no leverage for his hips as Lu swallows around him. He makes some dumb noises as he struggles, Lu’s thumb stroking his hipbone encouragingly, his other hand tight around the base of Eddie’s dick. 

This is not the way he imagined it at all; there were a lot of things he wanted to do to Lu in his mind. Some things he wanted Lu to do as well, and blowjobs were definitely high up on that list, but having only one hand free to pet Lu’s hair is super inadequate. Lu’s doing _everything_ , and it’s so fucking amazing, but also totally unfair. Eddie groans.

It gets a little harder to focus on the unfairness of it as he gets closer, shaking against Lu’s reassuring hands, Lu’s mouth on him a mess of sensation he can’t pick apart. He does manage to warn Lu before he comes, although he maybe also tells him he’s beautiful, which is true, but not what he meant to say. Lu doesn’t say anything about it, just kisses up his jaw with slick lips, teasing against the corner of Eddie’s mouth. It’s good, Eddie can finally fucking reach, and he doesn’t even bother being as careful with Lu’s sweats, just shoves his hand in to grab Lu’s dick, his hand bumping awkwardly against the elastic as he jerks it. 

Lu makes a pleased noise into his mouth, still holding Eddie’s hand tight, as though they could still go anywhere apart from each other, and thrusts up into Eddie’s hand. He’s a talker, it turns out, a few words of instruction here and there, but mostly, “yes, right there, keep going,” more and more ragged, even as the angle’s starting to wear on the both of them and Eddie thinks he’s losing the rhythm. “Fuck, yes, exactly,” he gasps out finally, coming into Eddie’s hand, but mostly his pants, and Eddie wonders if he can just wipe his hand off in there conveniently or if that would be weird. It sort of comes off anyway when he tries to extract himself from Lu’s sweats, and he puts his hand down carefully on the bed as Lu rolls off him.

“We could do that again sometime, without the handcuffs,” Lu says. He grins, cocking his head to one side. “Or with them, if you’re into that.” 

Eddie’s blushing, he’s blushing so damn hard. He can’t even see himself, but he can feel it. It shouldn’t be happening. He wasn’t as embarrassed when Lu was actually sucking him off, and he’d thought about that a _lot_. But he just cannot deal right now with the thought of having kinky sex. With Lu. Who is great. Technically, they had sex with handcuffs this time too, he guesses, but it doesn’t feel like it. In a weird way, it was more like the time he hooked up with Chris after his surgery and they’d spent a lot of time trying to find out how to work around all the injunctions against moving too fast. Also, it’s possible that he doesn’t really want to be handcuffed to _Lu_ , because that keeps Lu from doing certain things… but he is not going down this train of thought right now because he needs to stop looking like a fool sometime before they have to go to dinner. His shirt is rumpled to hell and he can’t stop grinning: looking like a fool might be a foregone conclusion, some voice in the back of his brain reminds him, but he distracts it with the sharp angle of Lu’s smile.

There’s some more blushing anyway, when they have to go clean up together. It seems weird to look at Lu wiping jizz off his dick, even when Eddie’s washing that exact jizz off his own hands. It’s a bit of a struggle to organize themselves in the bathroom, and later too, when Lu needs to change his pants, which reminds Eddie that they really haven’t managed to fix the whole handcuffs problem and maybe that should happen sometime before they have to get on the ice.

Lu shushes him when he tries to raise the subject, and then distracts him with a kiss when he tries a second time. It’s very reassuring, really, or at least something Eddie’s dick would like to dwell on for a lot longer than they have time for right now.

He still doesn't really know what's going on as they walk into the dining room handcuffed together, Lu waving jauntily at their more prompt teammates, but by this point in the afternoon, he supposes following Lu's lead has only steered him right so far.


End file.
